Bills opt out of NFL's revised TV blackout plan

The Buffalo Bills will not participate in the National Football League’s revised television blackout policy that allows teams to declare sellouts at 85 percent capacity, the team announced Friday.

“We are a volume-based franchise,” Bills CEO Russell Brandon said in a story posted on the team’s website.

“For us to be successful, we have to keep our ticket prices low and sell a great number of tickets. At 73,000 strong, our fans create one of the best home-field advantages in the entire National Football League.”

The league’s new policy allows teams to have home games televised if 85 percent of non-premium seats are sold 72 hours prior to kickoff.

Participating teams must give 50 percent of money generated from tickets sold beyond the 85 percent threshold to the NFL’s visiting-team pool rather than the traditional 34 percent, the website states. Adopting the new policy would have little impact on what games would be televised rather than being blacked out.

Six Bills games have been blacked out during the last two seasons. Under the revised policy, last season’s December game against Miami would have been the only one of the six to be televised, the website states.